01x02 - There Goes a Bulldozer

[bunniefuu]

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these are earth movers they can move a

lot of dirt but sometimes you need

something even more powerful watch this

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hi kids I'm construction foreman Dave

well I'm not really a construction

foreman but the real construction

workers told me that I could pretend for

a day so that you and I can learn about

construction sites demolition sites and

how all this big equipment works now

let's see he told me not to touch one of

these which one one Linden

Oh

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I shouldn't have done that

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now I actually can see construction

sites are very noisy places to be

they're also very dangerous that's why

everybody here has to wear one of these

it's a hard hat it keeps you your head

protected from flying objects this thing

I want you to look at this machine back

there

the yellow

that is a loader and if you look for she

see that the device on the front is kind

of like a big claw it's used for bending

and crunching up all the large pieces of

metal of things you can find here on

this demolition site and then it's

loaded into that high-sided dump truck

over there which hauls it away and then

it's recycled

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a lot of times if you're going to build

something new you've got to tear down

what was there before to make room for

it we've come to a demolition site where

they're tearing down an old chopping

ball to make room for a new shopping

mall a big machine you see back there is

one of the biggest excavators in the

world and that big arm is used to knock

the concrete apart on the end of it is a

hydraulic hammer with huge force it's

used to Bam Bam Bam break the cement

apart so it can be separated from the

iron and recycled now the water you see

a sprain on the building is simply there

to keep the dust down

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this is another kind of an excavator

that you see behind me but if you'll

notice on the end of the big arm there's

a special device called a cruncher and

it's like a great big shark's jaw what

it does is it bites down on the rock and

then crunches them into smaller pieces

so that they can be recycled

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yeah Jim Hayden and I'm superintendent

for Penhall company which superintendent

I get to direct all this operation that

you've been filming around here today

when I was young back in when I was five

or six years old I was moving dirt

around a little play toys that I had and

I'm still doing it today it was fun then

it's fun now so you could just be

demolishing things all day long and tear

them down and then you could turn right

around and getting the other end of the

business and build it all back instead

of tearing it down this machine is

called a bulldozer the mighty bulldozer

now this particular bulldozer has wheels

on it but as you'll see later on most

bulldozers have tracks just like a big

army tank and

used primarily for pushing dirt from one

place to another or leveling an area

like this so then a building can be

constructed later on

we've come to a different kind of

building site now this eventually will

be a twenty six story building a very

tall building with a building like that

you have to have a firm foundation it

have to be securely hooked to the ground

so there's an earthquake or something

that it doesn't fall down and move the

way they do that is by using this huge

drill bit here to drill a deep hole in

the ground they then fill that with

cement and steel and then anchor the

building to it and it becomes very solid

so that it won't fall over if there's an

earthquake

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well you'll never guess what this is

this is really the inside of one of the

big cement beams or building blocks that

will hold up the building eventually

what they do is they make a steel cage

and then they lower this in a frame and

pour cement on it the cement hardens and

because of the steel framework it makes

it much stronger so it can hold up the

building

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this is one of the biggest pieces of

equipment on a construction site it's a

225 ton crawler crane now it's called a

crawler because it's got these big huge

tracks just like a big tank only much

larger that moves it around the site

it's almost 15 stories high and it's

used up pick up real heavy objects and

move them around the construction site

hi I'm crane operator Jim and I've got

one of the best jobs on the construction

site I get to pick these things up and

move them around and get to play with

this big equipment and and I get paid

for doing this and it's fun

now that is a really big crane

that's called a tower tower crane dude

you gotta be a little careful on

construction sites because it's pretty

it's a little bit dangerous so you gotta

be careful where you walk and stuff Mike

how you doing pretty good Mike is the

crane operator mike is going to take us

up there now how high is this crane

that's 240 feet high day that's pretty

high as much yesterday well if you're

ready I'm ready let's go where's that

elevator there's no elevator on this

crane game will be taking the ladder all

the way to the top all the way to the

top all the way with a ladder Dave

you're afraid of heights no I'm I'm not

afraid of heights well then let's go up

Dave I don't I don't think I'm afraid of

heights

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man I'm not afraid of heights

I'm coming them coming

oh boy I'm not afraid of heights you're

not afraid of height

[Applause]

I can do this

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huh

yes it's quite a climate plan I'm not

afraid of heights

hi kids

we're up on the top of the tower crane

now let me show you how it works we have

two levers here joysticks almost like a

video game the right-hand joystick push

it to make the hook go down pull to make

the hole go up on the left-hand stick we

push left to make the cream swing left

push it right to make the cream swing

light pull the left lever hand and it

makes the hook come towards me

push it out and it makes the hook go out

by doing all of these functions at one

delay I can help the men on the ground

well if you like me you've probably seen

these big brains at construction sites

and wondered well not only what it would

be like tit to be up in the crane this

high off the ground before but what it

would be like to be out on the end of

the crane no I've talked Pike into

giving me that experience this is an

experience that few people ever have

this is the basket that they use for

maintenance on the crane so we're gonna

go out to the very end and then he's

going to turn it

Wow let's go okay Mike

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back on the ground the construction

crews are hard at work

hammering hauling and welding

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we've been at a construction site today

very busy construction site and we've

been talking to people so I want to stop

and talk to Tracy this is Tracy Jos

Tracy what is your job here well Dave

I'm called an operating engineer it's

called or what and it's used for what

well we use to pick up anything that

needs to be lifted high up so the moon

can get to it okay it can pick up about

eight thousand pounds that's a lot

what's this so I can talk to all the

crew all the crew and they can call me

and tell me what they need we don't have

construction foreman today can I borrow

that sure I'm gonna just uh okay just

talk to everybody that's right okay guys

this is construction foreman dave you've

been working too hard today it's time to

shut down and go home

is there signal for that shut down and

go home

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oh I did it again Dave you have to

remember you're not a real construction

foreman Wow now this is another totally

awesome machine and we're about to visit

another totally awesome construction

site you know before you can build one

of those buildings you got to have a

road to get to it now we're going to see

how some of these machines are used in

making roads and highways

the first step in building a road is to

cut a path for the road with the

bulldozer then the dirt has to be

squished down until it's hard and flat

next concrete is poured

this big machine is used to spread it

out and make it smooth

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these wires put grooves in the surface

so cars won't slip when it rains

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in the old days construction equipment

looked a lot different from today some

were powered by steam today the

equipment has gotten a lot bigger these

are some of the biggest machines in the

world

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yeah I kind of like playing construction

foreman even if I am just pretending for

a day look at this neat little rig

they've given me to drive around the

construction site pretty neat huh well

now we have come to one of the biggest

construction sites in the whole world

this is the future site of the jay paul

Getty Museum in Los Angeles California

this project is so big that it has been

ten years in the making now as you can

see they still have a ways to go but

they'll be done soon and it's going to

be a museum you know how much fun

museums are and how much you can learn

there so you want to be sure and plan a

trip here in the future so what do you

say we check out the construction site

and see how they start at the ground and

then the building's reach for the sky

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on a multi-story building like this big

Museum here at the beginning center

where there's lots of different stories

before the actual real elevators are

installed the workers have to have a way

to get up and down to the Thompson to

the different stories on the building

they use this machine it's called a man

mover as kind of a temporary elevator so

if you're ready let's go take a ride how

you doing

all the way in the top please

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the only real difference between this

and a regular elevator is there aren't

any walls of course you can see outside

of it and it moves a lot more jerky than

a real elevator it's kind of like a

carnival ride we're almost to the top

we're there come on

thank you well you've seen how they use

mostly cement on the lower portions of

the building and the foundation but when

you get high in the air we're about 10

storeys now it's going to be part of

them the auditorium here at the Getty

Center Museum they use big pieces of

metal for strength and those are all

bolted together as you can see and then

they use one of these this is a welding

torch to melt the metal and hook it

together just like glue but this is the

flame on this is so hot that it actually

melts the steel now this is not the kind

of a job that you want to have if you're

someone who doesn't like Heights

because as you can see it can be a very

dangerous place to be

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now Ladd is a big machine haha excuse me

we have a job for you a job for me yeah

let's move that pile of dirt there with

a shovel

yep I don't believe we've met my name's

Frank how do you do for example

construction foreman dicks I say yeah we

all have to start somewhere there you go

do you want me to move this pile of dirt

with this shovel seems to me if I was

gonna move a pile of dirt

that'll be using one of those on a

shovel I'm not I'm not I'm construction

foreman Dave I am not moving a pile of

dirt with a shovel

No

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[Applause]

backhoe

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wake up if it's right it's dreaming why

I was dreaming yeah and you still

haven't moved this pile of dirt listen

I'm uh sorry about that chip did you

really have to be careful around these

big machines or do it hurt yourself all

right oh I left

I'll move the dirt Thanks

the dirt move the dirt with the child no

problem

no problem at all

I like this well we've had lots of fun

learning about construction construction

sites and how they use these big pieces

of equipment but if you want to learn

more remember you can always learn more

at your local library they've got books

on everything so until next time this is

construction foreman dave saying if

you're gonna visit a construction site

always wear your hardhat see you next

time

[Applause]

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